Intel Unveils New Line of Mini-SSDs for Laptops, Tablets

The 310 Series drives are about one-eighth the size of a standard Intel X25 NAND flash SSD, yet they can hold up to 80GB of data.

Intel on Dec. 29 launched a new set of mini-sized solid-state drives
for dual-drive notebooks, tablet PCs and enbedded applications that the
company claims provide performance as high as its larger SSDs.

The 310 Series drives are sized at a mere 51mm-by-30mm and 5mm thick,
about one-eighth the size of a current Intel 2.5-inch X25 flash SSD,
yet they can hold up to 80GB of data.

The new drives contain 34-nanometer Intel NAND flash memory chips and
are available in an m-SATA form factor in 40GB and 80GB capacities. The
310 Series also support SATA connectivity over a PCI Express (PCIe)
mini-connector for on-board storage in single-drive netbooks, tablets
or handheld devices.

Intel Director of Solid-State Products Marketing Troy Winslow told
eWEEK that when paired with a high-capacity hard disk drive in a
dual-drive laptop or desktop PC, the 310 SSDs markedly improve overall
system speed by about 60 percent, according to benchmarks.

"These really help accelerate boot time and access to frequently used applications or files," Winslow said.

The ARMOR mobile and field unit tablet PC is certified to work in
extreme temperatures and hold up to shock, vibration and drops,
delivering up to nine hours of operating time.

The Intel SSD 310 drives are now shipping and priced at $99 for the 40GB capacity and $179 for the 80GB version, both in 1,000-unit quantities.

Chris Preimesberger was named Editor-in-Chief of Features & Analysis at eWEEK in November 2011. Previously he served eWEEK as Senior Writer, covering a range of IT sectors that include data center systems, cloud computing, storage, virtualization, green IT, e-discovery and IT governance. His blog, Storage Station, is considered a go-to information source. Chris won a national Folio Award for magazine writing in November 2011 for a cover story on Salesforce.com and CEO-founder Marc Benioff, and he has served as a judge for the SIIA Codie Awards since 2005. In previous IT journalism, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. His diverse resume also includes: sportswriter for the Los Angeles Daily News, covering NCAA and NBA basketball, television critic for the Palo Alto Times Tribune, and Sports Information Director at Stanford University. He has served as a correspondent for The Associated Press, covering Stanford and NCAA tournament basketball, since 1983. He has covered a number of major events, including the 1984 Democratic National Convention, a Presidential press conference at the White House in 1993, the Emmy Awards (three times), two Rose Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, several NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, a Formula One Grand Prix auto race, a heavyweight boxing championship bout (Ali vs. Spinks, 1978), and the 1985 Super Bowl. A 1975 graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Chris has won more than a dozen regional and national awards for his work. He and his wife, Rebecca, have four children and reside in Redwood City, Calif.Follow on Twitter: editingwhiz